Drilling fluid carries drilling cuttings to the area outside the drill string and to the surface where they are crudely separated from the drilling fluid before pumping the fluid back down the inside of the drill string. This activity results in a fluid with suspended abrasive solid moving at high speed through components which make up a drilling tool in the bottom hole assembly (BHA). The issue is especially relevant for tools that utilize the fluid as a lubricant or coolant in load-bearing assemblies such as bearings. A fluid suspending solids and travelling at high speed tends to erode adjacent surfaces, a condition aggravated by increasing impingement angles. Bearing assemblies, such as those including particles of tungsten carbide suspended in a binder material, generally utilize mud as a lubricant/coolant and allow a portion of the total drill string flow to pass through the bearing pack. Emerging technologies utilizing polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bearing assemblies do not require the same volume of fluid. A common failure mode that reduces service life of this technology is erosion undermining the structure required to hold the diamond technology.